These were some of the crowds at last year’s Houston ADRL race. They won’t be turned away this year, say HRP and ADRL management. (Jeff Burk photo)

DRO has learned that on Tuesday, Feb. 24, the NHRA technical department’s Don Taylor called ADRL president Kenny Nowling to inform him that if the ADRL did not comply with a rule change concerning the maximum nitromethane percentage that could be burned in a injected nitro engine combination for an ADRL Pro Extreme car, the ADRL would lose the ASO status with the NHRA and would not be able to stage ADRL events at NHRA-sanctioned race tracks, including the season opener scheduled to begin in just nine days at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, TX. This information came directly from ADRL president Kenny Nowling.

DRO contacted Seth Angel at Houston Raceway Park and Mr. Angel told DRO Editor Jeff Burk that he had a similar conversation with NHRA VP Graham Light in which Light told Angel that if the ADRL was not in compliance with the NHRA mandate ADRL would lose its ASO status with the NHRA and would not be allowed to stage events at NHRA-sanctioned tracks.

Angel told DRO that “I told Graham that it would be a financial and public relations nightmare for Houston Raceway Park to cancel this race with this short of notice. It would do irreparable damage to our relationship with our fans and sponsors in the area.”

Angel told DRO that he was going to have the ADRL event regardless.“We have distributed around a million free tickets to this race. What would I tell our fans when they showed up at our track next weekend with a ticket in their hands expecting to see a race? This race will go on as scheduled regardless of what the NHRA says or does. We want to emphasize that our organization and the family are loyal to the NHRA and want to continue to have a good relationship with the NHRA but the actions they are threatening us with are simply unacceptable.

Angel continued, “We are going to have the ADRL race March 6-7 and then we will have to see what happens then with the NHRA and Houston Raceway Park.”

The NHRA has its own national event scheduled for HRP on March 26-29. Would that date be in peril if the NHRA stripped HRP of its NHRA sanctioning? Direct all calls to the NHRA or the ADRL please. [2/25/2009]